PM-Kisan scheme: Less than 5% of farmers have got income support

Only around 2.35 lakh farmers from State have received two instalments so far

June 13, 2019 11:06 pm | Updated 11:06 pm IST - Bengaluru

Less than 5% of small and marginal farmers in the State, who are eligible for income support of ₹6,000 incentive annually under the PM-Kisan scheme, have received the first two instalments of ₹2,000 each, even as the State has witnessed delay in registering the farmers.

Only around 2.35 lakh farmers have received the instalments so far, though 69 lakh small and marginal farmers with less than two hectares holding have been identified in the State. In all, Karnataka has 86.77 lakh farmers, most of whom were eligible to receive the benefits after the scheme was extended to all farmers. About 9.7 lakh farmers belong to the Scheduled Castes community and 5.21 lakh are Scheduled Tribes.

Data on the FRUITS PMKISAN portal of the State Agriculture Department shows that over 14 lakh applications — 4 lakh farmers with less than 2 hectares and 10 lakh farmers with over two hectares — are pending for verification by village accountants. A total of 6.13 lakh applications have been verified so far. The PM-Kisan scheme came up for discussion in a meeting of Deputy Commissioners and zilla panchayat CEOs held by the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister on Thursday. Officials were instructed to complete the process of registration by month-end.

Sources in the Agriculture Department acknowledged that the process was being delayed at the grassroots’ level. “The scheme is Aadhaar-linked and the village accountant has to certify the beneficiary. The certification process is getting delayed. Once the certification is done, farmers have to submit the document to the Agriculture Department,” sources said.

The issue of poor registration had briefly turned into a poll issue during the recent Lok Sabha elections when the BJP targeted the Janata Dal (Secular)-Congress coalition, accusing it of not implementing the scheme well in the State.

During campaigning in the State, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that only 17 farmers had received the incentive. Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy had rebutted it stating that the details of 10 lakh farmers had been shared with the Centre.

When asked if the poor numbers had political implications, sources said: “The certification has to be proper and it’s taking time. No politics is involved in its delay.”

Meanwhile, acknowledging that there has been a delay, Agriculture Minister N.H. Shivshankar Reddy said he had convened a meeting to understand the problems and hasten the process. “Details of 10 lakh farmers have been sent to the Centre, while 2.5 lakh farmers have received the instalments. Farmers will get the full incentive hen the batches are cleared for payment.”

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